Support a TCF School in Pakistan for a Year

The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is Pakistan’s leading education charity with a nationwide presence in 93 towns and cities across 51 districts in Pakistan, with 830 school units teaching over 115,000 underprivileged children regardless of ethnicity, gender, caste or religion. TCF schools are built in deprived areas, urban slums and poor rural villages where the need is most dire and where most children would otherwise not receive an education.   The Citizens Foundation (UK) raises funds for the construction and on-going support of TCF schools, contributing approximately 12.5% of TCF’s total budget. Funds are raised from individuals, corporates, matched giving, Trusts and events.

TCF's achievements:

• Our schools have a balanced gender ratio: close to 50% female students
• TCF has created more than 8,800 jobs of which 5,800 are female faculty positions
• TCF has gained certification from PCP (Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy). TCF is amongst the highest scoring organizations certified by PCP to date
• We have raised public awareness about the dire illiteracy problem in Pakistan

Each year increasing numbers of our grade X students have achieved A+, A and B Grades in the external State Board Matriculation examinations. In the most recent academic year, 49% of students attained A+ and A Grades - 10% more than last year and well above the national average with some of our students ranking in the top 10 in these exams. A commendable result considering that TCF’s students come from some of Pakistan’s poorest communities.

Some of the programmes that TCF increasing number of TCF school buildings which are put to use in the evenings, weekends and school holidays:

• Female Adult Literacy Program: This is an accelerated three-month program using specially designed books and learning material. At the end of the program participants should be able to read and understand a newspaper, write a simple letter, plus acquire some basic maths skills. Over 9,000 women have now benefited from this programme. A seventy-something year old woman thanked TCF at her ‘graduation’: ‘we were blind – now we can see’;

• Vocational Training Program: Since there was always going to be a significant number of TCF children unable to further themselves academically after matriculation, a key object for TCF has been to develop a robust platform for these students to acquire relevant vocational skills. The following courses are tailored to skills in short supply and run for six months and one year: General electrician; General fitter and fabrication; Plumber and pipe-fitting; Refrigeration and air-conditioning; and Car and motor-cycle repairing. Separate courses are designed and run for women;

• Mentoring programme: The mentors are often officers in large companies. The programme is structured around an 8 week course with clear milestones developed to build the confidence of participating TCF students who will have had very little exposure to the world of their mentor. Results show that the students learn to trust their mentor, calling him or her for advice even after the end of the programme. This programme has now been running for four years during which over 250 mentors have helped more than 5,000 TCF students. This programme is on target to meet its target of 2012, having 2,500 mentors matched with all 8,000 Grade VIII students on their voyage of self-discovery by 2012;

• Water pumps have been installed in over 60 schools as a pilot project providing clean water to the local community in the mornings and evenings. Designed to help with hygiene and community building, the programme is still in its early stages;

Student and Learning Outcomes 2012:

We are proud to announce that 35% of TCF students continue to study beyond Class I2 (past intermediary, or ‘A Level’ education) as compared to the national average of just 5%.
We continue to defy national averages in primary education also.

•  Urdu/Sindhi; Literacy has been gauged by evaluating students’ ability to ‘read a sentence in Urdu [or Sindhi]’.  As per the Annual Status of Education Report 2011, about 41% of Class III can read a sentence in Urdu / Sindhi. As compared to this, nearly 80% of TCF students can do the same. 
• Numeracy; For numeracy, students' ability to perform simple subtraction (two-digit) has been assessed. The national average in this regard is 37.5% while 9 of every 10 TCF students are able to perform the same.

In essence, we build quality schools, we staff them with well-trained, committed teachers, and we make sure that our students receive a modern, well-rounded education. To us, education is about more than just academic training – it’s about learning to be confident, to think critically, and to be good citizens. And because TCF is transparent at every level and managed professionally, its template is easily replicable.

Thanks to your continued support, TCF is opening the doors of education, ambition and success to thousands of disadvantaged children from Pakistan's most deprived areas, where the need is most dire.

We hope that with news of TCF's expansion, you will renew your much needed support. It is only with the help of our supporters that TCF is able to grow successfully and transform the lives of deserving children and their families across Pakistan.

We are pleased to share with you just one of the many uplifting stories TCF students have to tell.

Murad –The Next Football Hero
14 year old Murad Karim Baksh has dreamed of becoming a footballer since he was a little boy. Karim has made substantial steps towards realizing this dream. A few months ago, he made it into the Under 14 National Football Team and has since played in a tournament held in Islamabad. This was the first time that he had stepped outside Karachi.
From the congested, polluted lanes of one of the many neighborhoods of Lyari Town in Karachi, Murad reached Pakistan’s much greener and cleaner capital city to spend 13 exciting days playing his favorite sport and making new friends.
Murad is a grade VIII student at TCF Secondary School – Cowasjee Campus. He has been studying there since grade I. Last year he read about football trials in a local newspaper and decided to compete.
In January last year, he participated in Youth Challenge held by the Pakistan Football Federation and his confidence continues to grow.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like to find out more about TCF-UK.  We look forward to hearing from you.

The Citizens Foundation

Grove House, 2 Orange Street, London WC2H 7DF

T: 020 3585 3011/ 12 I F: 020 7183 7085 | E: info@tcf-uk.org I W: www.tcf-uk.org

Links:

• TCF-UK